Vaja Mouse Pad

A hundred thousand throwaway mousepads have been designed for PCs. Only a few have been created specifically for Apple’s mice. Vaja’s entirely leather Mouse Pad ($69) is one of the best of them. Offered in twin tones—one for the border, one for the center—the Mouse Pad can be had in a white and red color combination immediately, or customized with 18 border and 5 center colors. All of the colors are in Vaja’s soft, wonderfully padded Caterina leather, which the company notes is more sensitive to showing marks in lighter colors; after two years of active use, our sample (originally covered here) is still in pretty great shape.

While the color combination shown in the mouse pad above is no longer available—gray center leather has apparently been discontinued—it was designed to match older Macs, anyway. Newer silver and black iMac users might prefer the “ice flow” border and “black” center to go with their machines, or brown and wine versions that match nicely with wood furniture and decor. Vaja’s customization engine lets you get a sense of how the two colors work together before you place an order; hand-manufacturing requires 20 days thereafter.